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Technologie + Medien > IT + Telekommunikation






Schleppende Nachfrage erzwingt Sparkurs – Deutsche Tochter kann nicht klagen


Compaq macht’s der Konkurrenz nach


Die Einnahmen des Computerherstellers Compaq fallen im ersten Quartal geringer aus als geplant. Darum sollen etwa 5 000 Vollzeitarbeitsplätze gestrichen werden und bis zu 15 Prozent der Teilzeitkräfte gehen. Dies soll eine Ersparnis von etwa 500 Millionen Dollar im Geschäftsjahr bringen.





ruk PALO ALTO. Überrascht hat die Nachricht niemand mehr: Auch Compaq-Chef Michael Capellas muss – wie die Mehrheit seiner Kollegen in den großen IT-Unternehmen – zum Rotstift greifen und Arbeitsplätze abbauen. Dies verlangt das ungeschriebene Gesetz der Wall Street. Ohne solche Ankündigen würden die Aktienkurse der Technologiewerte noch tiefer in den Keller rutschen.

Compaq mit Stammsitz in Houston, Texas, rechnet für das laufende Quartal mit einem Gewinnrückgang um etwa ein Drittel. Capellas erwartet demnach einen Quartalsgewinn pro Aktie von 12 bis 14 Cents. Die Analysten gingen bisher nach Angaben von First Call / Thomson Financial von 18 Cents aus. Der Quartalsumsatz, so teilt Compaq weiter mit, dürfte bei etwa 9 bis 9,2 Mrd. $ liegen. Dies bedeutet einen Rückgang von 20 % gegenüber dem vierten Quartal 2000 und liegt deutlich unter den bisher vorhergesagten 9,6 Mrd. $.

Wie alle Topmanager der US-Conputerindustrie macht auch Capellas die schwache Konjunktur in den USA dafür verantwortlich, dass das angepeilte Ergebnis nicht erreicht werden kann. Ein nachlassendes Vertrauen der Privatkunden sowie scharfe Sparmaßnahmen bei den Geschäftskunden hätten zu den erheblichen Rückschritten geführt. Über das derzeitige US-Problem hinaus äußerte der Compaq-Chef auch eine gewisse Sorge von Einbrüchen auf den globalen Märkten.

Im Bereich der Personalcomputer habe nicht nur das Geschäft mit Arbeitsplatzrechnern (Desktop) nachgelassen, auch die Nachfrage nach Notebooks zeige nun Schwächen. Außerdem sei das Geschäft mit Servern unter Druck geraten. Hier habe die Nachfrage in den USA vor allem aus den Industriebereichen Telekommunikation, Autofertigung und Maschinenbau nachgelassen. Ein scharfer Preiswettbewerb habe für zusätzlichen Druck gesorgt. Gerade dieses Überschwappen niedriger Preise vom PC- auf den Servermarkt stellt nach Ansicht von Branchenexperten eine schlechte Nachricht für die gesamte Branche dar.

Stellenabbau in Deutschland ist lediglich solidarischer Beitrag

Bei Compaq Deutschland sei die Lage etwas besser, wie Deutschland-Chef Peter Mark Droste dem Handelsblatt erklärte. Nach einem erfolgreichen Jahr 2000 mit einem Umsatz von 4,1 Mrd. DM müssten auch beim Umsatzziel von 4,9 Mrd. DM zum Ende des laufenden Geschäftsjahres derzeit noch keine Abstriche gemacht werden. Der Abbau von Stellen sei in Deutschland daher lediglich eine Frage eines solidarischen Beitrages zur Optimierung der Kosten im gesamten Konzern. Operativ bedingte Entlassungen seien in Deutschland nicht notwendig, so Droste.

Compaq plant den weltweiten Abbau von 5 000 Vollstellen, etwa 7 % der Belegschaft. Zudem soll jede dritte Teilzeitkraft von insgesamt schätzungsweise 24 500 gehen. Dies soll nach Angaben aus Houston – zusammen mit bereits vorher angekündigten Einsparungen – die Kosten um 500 bis 600 Mill. $ drücken. So sollen auch die bisher getrennten Geschäftsbereiche für Firmen- und Privat-PC zusammengelegt werden.

Außerdem plant Compaq, Marketing und Fertigung personell zu straffen.Die Kosten des Umbaus werden bei etwa 125 bis 150 Mill. $ liegen, die als Sonderbelastung verbucht werden. Als Sondereinnahmen will Compaq im laufenden Quartal einen Gewinn von etwa 120 Mill. $ aus dem Verkauf eines Minderheitsanteils an der Road Runner LLC verbuchen. Das ist ein schneller Internet-Zugangdienst mit Sitz in Herdon, gelegen vor den Toren der US-Bundeshauptstadt Washington DC.


HANDELSBLATT, Sonntag, 18. März 2001

[Big-Apple]

Und das war die Mitteilung an die Angestellten:

To: Compaq Global Team

All of you are aware that we are operating in a difficult business and economic environment.
In this environment, we need to take some strong actions that will improve our efficiency,
enhance our ability to execute through the current market slowdown, and put us in a strong
position to drive market leadership and profitable growth when the market rebounds.

The actions we are announcing today include:

Reduced expectations for Q1 earnings
The merger of the consumer and commercial personal computing groups
Restructuring activities that will produce annualized savings of between $500 and $600 million
and eliminate approximately 5,000 jobs worldwide
Changes to the senior management team

Q1 guidance

When we announced Q4 earnings in January, we said that we expected earnings to be 21 cents per
share and revenue to be $9.6 billion, or flat with Q1 of 2000.

We now expect Q1 earnings to be between 12 and 14 cents per share. And we expect revenue to
be down three to five percent from the same quarter last year -- or between $9 and $9.2
billion.

The reasons for these lowered estimates won’t surprise you. We are seeing continued weakness
in the U.S. economy. What started as a broad-based slide in consumer confidence has now
spread to corporate capital spending. Market demand for traditional desktop PCs in both the
consumer and commercial markets has been hit the hardest. This has naturally led to a very
aggressive pricing environment.

While market acceptance of our enterprise products remains strong, overall server demand is
softening, notably in low and mid-tier products. Demand has also slowed in some of our key
vertical markets, particularly telecommunications and some segments of financial services.

On the positive side, we will see year-over-year growth in all regions outside the United
States, and our storage and service business units continue to perform well. Overall, I am
pleased with our execution.

New GBU

We are merging Consumer and CPCG into a single Access Business Group. Mike Larson, who has
been senior vice president, Consumer Group, will lead this new organization. He will continue
to report to Mike Winkler.

We made this change in part to take advantage of the technical synergies between the two
groups and to achieve greater operating efficiencies. But this is more than an organization
change. It also reflects our view of where the market is headed. It is clear that business
and home computing are converging. Users want access to their business and personal
information regardless of where they are and what device they are using. As a result, demand
is growing for mobile and pure Internet access devices.

One of the key pillars of our strategy is to redefine Internet access and the Internet
experience. We’ve made a lot of progress in the past year, particularly with our iPAQ family
of products. This new organization puts us in an even stronger position to lead the market in
developing and delivering the next generation of PCs and access devices.

I know you have many questions about what this organization will look like. We are continuing
to define the structure and roles. We will communicate this detail within the next several
weeks.

I want to thank Mike Pocock for leading the CPCG organization during this challenging period.
Mike has accepted an important new assignment, which I will discuss later in this message.

Restructuring

We are also taking several actions to reduce our structural costs by $500 to $600 million on
an annualized basis.

These actions include significant steps to continue to increase the efficiency and performance
of our supply chain. Our goal is to make dramatic improvements in order cycle times, further
reduce inventory and improve account and order management. This will not only make our own
operations more efficient and more competitive. It will also help us increase customer
satisfaction. Additional details will be communicated in the next few weeks.

In addition to the merger of the two PC businesses, we will also consolidate our marketing
operations and eliminate some central functions. These changes are designed not only to
reduce costs but also to get key programs closer to the customer.

As a result of these actions, we will eliminate up to 5,000 positions worldwide and take a
restructuring charge in Q1 of between $125 and $150 million.

Decisions to cut jobs are painful for all of us. We’re committed to make them as quickly as
we can. Once plans are finalized, we will communicate the decision to the people and groups
affected and manage the process with the dignity and sensitivity our employees deserve.

Management Changes

Last November, we put in place a new organizational structure with Peter Blackmore and Mike
Winkler taking on expanded responsibilities. I am pleased with how well this structure is
operating.

Today I am announcing additional changes that will further strengthen the management team and
our ability to execute.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jeff Clarke as Compaq’s senior vice president and
chief financial officer (CFO), reporting to me.

Jesse Greene will take on a new role as senior vice president, strategic planning, also
reporting to me.

Many of you know Jeff, who has been vice president of finance and strategy for Sales and
Services, reporting to Peter. Prior to that, he was vice president of strategic finance for
Technology and Corporate Development. He is a seasoned financial executive who has been
intimately involved in our business and financial strategy during the past 18 months. He also
has operating experience both here and abroad.

Jeff will lead a financial team that I believe is one of the best in our industry. He will
also work closely with me and with the entire management team to continue to strengthen
Compaq’s financial planning and structure.

In his new role, Jesse will be responsible for longer-term strategy issues. He will focus on
mergers and acquisitions, new market opportunities and on building long-term shareholder
value. Jesse has a great deal of experience in this area, and we are going to be aggressive
in making some future moves.

I am pleased to announce that Mike Pocock has agreed to assume the role of vice president,
corporate strategy, reporting directly to Jesse. Also reporting to Jesse will be Bud Enright,
who leads the corporate development group, and Joe Ottaviano, who leads the mergers and
acquisitions team.

I want to thank Jesse for his contributions as CFO. He helped Compaq achieve greater
visibility in its internal systems and implement some important reporting procedures. His
efforts also solidified our foundation during the past year.

I am also expanding Mike Winkler’s responsibilities to include corporate marketing. This will
assure better integration of the Compaq brand and greater consistency in our messaging across
the GBUs and solutions teams. The Integrated Marketing Communications group, led by Gary
Elliott, will now report directly to Mike. Gary’s team will continue to be responsible for
the overall Compaq brand.

Doug Fox, senior vice president, marketing and strategy, will leave Compaq to pursue other
interests. I want to thank Doug for his many contributions to Compaq during the short time
he’s been here. We appreciate those efforts and wish him the best in the future.

As I announced recently, Corporate Communications, under the new leadership of Kay Hart, is
now reporting directly to me.

In summary, these management changes reflect the continuing evolution of our organization.
They will further strengthen our financial team. They will increase our strategic focus on
emerging markets and business opportunities. And they will enhance our ability to deliver a
powerful, unified message and to execute more effectively across our corporate, GBU, region
and country groups.

Conclusion

Last quarter, we delivered a strong operating performance in the face of the market downturn.
As I said then, it is times like these that test our ability to execute. We cannot control
the market. But together we must manage our business so we can execute through these tough
times.

We are going to continue to move aggressively to improve our business model. Our goal is to
be in a very strong position to lead the market and accelerate profitable growth when demand
rebounds. We’re confident that the actions we are announcing today will help us achieve that
goal.

Michael